Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125

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Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Effect of wear on rolling contact fatigue crack growth in rails

Reza Masoudi Nejad, Mahmoud Shariati n, Khalil Farhangdoost
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of the load direction and the phenomenon of wear
Received 25 April 2015 on rolling contact fatigue crack growth. For this purpose, a UIC60 rail with accurate geometry using FEM
Received in revised form is studied. In this regard, a three-dimensional finite element model is provided. The maximum stress
29 July 2015
caused by wheel/rail contact for a new/worn wheel profiles was obtained using such model. Then, using
Accepted 19 August 2015
Available online 28 August 2015
Franc 3D software, during stress analysis for different situations of wheel, different values of stress
intensity factors are obtained. The behavior of crack under fatigue loading was studied using a three-
Keywords: dimensional modeling.
Fatigue crack growth & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rail
FEM
Stress intensity factor

1. Introduction
In recent decades, the advent of numerical method, Non-
Destructive Tests (NDTs) and finite element softwares has caused
numerous investigations on fatigue crack growth that is the most
important reason for fracture in mechanical components [1]. In
railway engineering, many studies are performed on calculating
residual stress field and fatigue life in wheel and rail by considering
the effect of different parameters [2,3]. The railroad wheel has the
initial residual stress created by the manufacturing process, and this
residual stress changes due to the mechanical stress caused by ser-
vice conditions. The residual stresses of railroad wheels are influ-
enced by the heat treatment during manufacture processing [2].
Masoudi Nejad et al. [4,5] developed a three dimensional elastic–
plastic finite element model to estimate residual stresses which are
cause due to manufacturing process in the wheel structure for Iran’s
railways. Masoudi Nejad [6] investigated the stress field due to press
fitting process of a bandage wheel and the stress field due to wheel/
rail contact. Farrahi et al. [7] carried out an investigation on fatigue
life and crack growth prediction in a bandage wheel due to the stress
field which is caused during mechanical loading and press fitting
process of bandage wheel. The effect of several parameters, vertical
loads, initial crack length and friction coefficient between rim and
hub/wheel, on the fatigue life in railway wheels is investigated.
Failure in rail structures happens because of many reasons and
the fracture that is caused by fatigue may have more effect and be
more intense in compared to other causes of failure in such
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 98 939 993 5405.
E-mail addresses: masoudinejad@stu.um.ac.ir (R. Masoudi Nejad),
mshariati44@um.ac.ir (M. Shariati), farhang@um.ac.ir (K. Farhangdoost).
structures. So, the accurate prediction of crack growth in rail using
finite element software decreases maintenance costs. The rolling
contact fatigue (RCF) in rail is caused by the rail/wheel contact and
leads initiation of surface and subsurface cracks. The fatigue perfor-
mance of the rails is a function of many factors, including service
conditions, loading, material properties, environmental factors, and
manufacturing processes. In continue, Wong et al. [8] concluded that
shallow (surface) angled cracks cause pitting or transverse cracks
under special conditions (circumstances). They also studied the effect
of different parameters such as initial crack angle and loading con-
dition in the pitting and transverse crack initiation.
Kabo [9] studied the fatigue impact of material defects under
rolling contact loading condition and investigated the response to
overloads and the effect of clusters of defects. He also calculated
the fatigue impact using multiaxial fatigue criteria and used finite
element simulations to analyze stressess and strains in the vicinity
of defects. Beretta et al. [10] presented that the crack initially
propagates parallel to the rail surface and then it is willing to
propagate through the depth of the rail. They studied crack growth
mechanisms and its path in rail web which are the main factors for
determining the rail inspection time intervals. At first, they shown
mode II by conducting a fractographic analysis and deduced that
mode I occurs after the final crack deviation. At the end, their
results declare that the initial crack tend to propagate in a path in
which mode II stress intensity factor is close to its maximum value
and mode I stress intensity factor is willing to maximize mode I
crack growth after kinking.
Skyttebol et al. [11] presented a finite element analysis to study
the effect of welding residual stresses on fatigue crack propagation
in rail welds. They simulated the rail/wheel contact by considering
residual stress field using SACC finite element software and also
studied the effect of axle load, crack location, crack size and rail

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2015.08.035
0301-679X/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125 119

temperature. The results of their survey shown that thermal stress

has the most important effect among all other parameters. Far-
hangdoost et al. [12] investigated on the effect of slippery fluid on
rolling contact fatigue crack growth. In this study, they studied the
effect of fluid inside the crack on fatigue crack growth by devel-
oping a two dimensional finite element model using FRANC-2D
software. Besides that, they also performed an analysis to show the
effect of friction between faces of crack and pressure ratio on
rolling fatigue crack propagation.
The interaction between wear and fatigue in rails causes the
initiation of rolling contact fatigue defects. Scientist has performed
many investigations on the interaction between wear and crack
growth. Ringsberg et al. [13] presented an elastic–plastic finite
element modeling and analysis for short crack growth in rails
under rolling contact fatigue loading by considering the effect of
wear. In continue, Donzella et al. [14] proposed a model for esti-
mating the effect of wear on rolling contact fatigue crack growth.
They also studied the effect of fluid, shakedown level, the crack
growth behavior and the wear rate. Stock et al. [15] studied wear
and rolling contact fatigue behavior of different rail materials.
Franklin et al. [16] and Kapoor et al. [17] also investigated on the
interaction between wear and rolling contact.
Most of the previous studies which have been conducted in the
field of fatigue and fracture in railway wheels and rails relate to the
prediction of crack initiation and some other studies correspond to
the crack propagation behavior in railway wheel with no load history
consideration. But three dimensional analysis of crack growth in rail
structures has not been under sufficient attention in Iran railways. In
this paper, a three dimensional finite element analysis and simula-
tion is performed to specify the location of maximum stress field due
to wheel/rail contact by considering all possible parameters in Iran
railway system. In continue, such stress fields are applied to estimate
crack propagation and fatigue life using Franc-3D software for three
worn wheel profiles and a new wheel that contain two cracks. One of
these cracks are considered to be along wheel rotation direction and
the other one is placed in the opposite direction to wheel rotation.

2. Finite element modeling and contact analysis

Studying fatigue and fracture of railway structure in the present

investigation requires to find the crack initiation location by
modeling wheel/rail contact in finite element softwares. For this
purpose, the stress analysis of wheel/rail contact is performed
using ANSYS finite element software.
In order to geometric modeling of wheel and rail, the promi-
nent profiles in Iran railways named as S1002 and UIC60 are used,
respectively. Fig. 1 shows new S1002 (for wheel) and UIC60 (for
rail) profiles and three types of the worn wheel are shown in Fig. 2
[19]. The first, second and third worn profiles are measured at
200,000, 300,000 and 500,000 km, respectively [19]. Fig. 3 shown
wheel/rail contact for straight and curvilinear paths and the finite
element modeling in Ansys software is also shown in Fig. 4. The
mechanical properties of wheel and rail are presented in Table 1.
Dynamic load on each wheel is 98 KN. The wheel degree of free-
dom (DOF) is free along the loading direction and it is fully con-
strained in two other directions. The boundary conditions in two
sides of the rail are considered as clamped conditions.
The rail slope that is applied to underside of the rail and
towards the center of two rails is very important during mounting
of the rail. This slope is usually applied as 1:20 and 1:40 degrees
and 1:20 degree is selected as slope angle in this study.
Fig. 1. Prominent profiles for modeling (a) cross section of new wheel, (b) cross
Wheel surface is chosen as main surface due to its finer ele- section of UIC60 rail [18].
ments and rail surface is selected as subsidiary surface. One of the
mentioned surfaces should be selected as target and the order one
as contact surface. For this reason, wheel and rail surfaces are
120 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125

chosen as contact and target surfaces, respectively. The friction 3. Fatigue crack growth and life estimation of rail
coefficient is defined as 0.29 for wheel/rail contact and it is con-
stant in all directions [3]. Superficial (surface) cracks are placed on the surface of the rail
The model mesh has Eight-noded three-dimensional elements and they may change to transverse cracks after propagation
of type solid 45. Besides that, contact elements for wheel and rail because of many factor such as loading, friction and initial angle of
are defined as contact 173 and target 170, respectively. Table 2 crack. It should also be noted that transverse cracks are the most
shows the finite element solution according to number of ele- dangerous cracks in rails.
ments and maximum Von-Mises stress for new wheel and rail Simulation of crack propagation is performed using Franc-3D
profiles are also presented. So, the proper number of elements for finite element software which is programmed by Cornell university
wheel and rail is according to Table 2.
According to the results of finite element solution for wheel/rail
contact, the maximum Von-Mises stress due to the contact of rail
and new S1002 wheel is 518 MPa. The maximum value of Von-
Mises stress for the contact of rail and the first, second and third
types of worn wheel are also computed as 518 MPa, 539 MPa,
569 MPa and 591 MPa, respectively (Fig. 5). These maximum
values of stress are higher than the yield strength of steel and this
comparison shows that the plastic zone occurs at the contact
surface between wheel and rail.

Fig. 4. Finite element modeling of wheel/rail contact.

Table 1
The mechanical properties of railway wheel and UIC60 rail steels [3].

Component Elastic module (GPa) Poisson’s ratio Yield stress (MPa)

Wheel 205 0.3 527

Rail 206.9 0.295 483
Fig. 2. Geometry of new and worn wheel profile [19].

Fig. 3. Wheel/rail contact, (a) straight path, (b) curvilinear path [19].
 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125 121

scientists [20,21]. A length of the rail is considered for modeling and vicinity of crack and the contact load location are increased in order
only half of the rail length is modeled because of longitudinal sym- to achieve better results.
metry. First, the meshed model is simulated in Ansys software with Semi elliptical cracks are the most popular cracks in railway
no crack (crack is defined using Franc-3D software). Then, the results structures and many field observations has shown the presence of
are used as input data in Franc-3D software. Fig. 6 shows finite such cracks as dominant defect in these structures. In this study, a
element model with crack and the number of elements in the semi-elliptical crack is considered for modeling and analysis and
the crack location is selected as discussed in previous section. The
length of initial crack is considered as 3 mm and its depth is
Table 2 defined as 1 mm. besides that, two directions are considered for
Finite element results for different number of element for wheel and rail.
crack, the first one is in along loading condition and the other one
Step Number of rail Number of wheel Maximum Von-Mises is in the opposite direction to loading (Fig. 7).
elements elements stress (MPa) Two types of loading are considered in this study, the first load
is associated with train weight that is applied perpendicular to rail
1 5809 10,459 317
section and the second one is related to rolling resistance force
2 6135 17,801 365
3 8769 23,986 408 that is induced due to wheel/rail contact. The second force is also
4 10,248 30,561 439 known as rolling friction force and is applied to crack planes and
5 13,267 36,915 451 cause them to slip over each other. In continue, elements are
6 18,420 41,763 479
7 24,098 48,619 491
defined and the model is meshed and stress analysis is carried out
8 27,651 52,683 509 using Boundary Element System (BES) software. Then the stress
9 29,134 59,427 518 intensity factors (SIFs) for three fracture modes are computed.
10 32,456 61,071 518
The direction in which the crack propagates is specified using
11 34,519 65,306 519
stress intensity factors. Two types of crack growth behavior are

Fig. 5. Stress distribution for the wheel/rail contact, (a) new wheel profile, (b) first type of worn wheel, (c) second type of worn wheel, (d) third type of worn wheel.
122 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125

Fig. 8. A sample of pitting defects in rail, (a) crack propagation in Franc-3D soft-
ware, (b) experimental sample [27].

the numerical prediction of the crack shape agrees very well with
the field observation.
Fatigue life estimation of wheel is conducted by obtaining
Fig. 6. Finite element modeling in Franc-3D software, (a) elements of the rail stress intensity factors and using equations used in Refs. [22–24].
geometry, (b) initial geometry of crack. Modified Paris model also predicts crack growth and considers the
effect of fatigue crack closure. The growth rate is defined by the
equation as follows [25]:
da n
=C ( ∆Keff ) =C (Kmax − Kop )n
dN (1)

where ΔKeff is the effective stress intensity factor is defined as

the difference between the maximum stress intensity factor in
mode I ( KI , max ) and stress level where the crack tip first opens
( Kop ). C and n are material constants that are considered as 3.14
and 4.25 × 10−9 m/Cycle, respectively. Crack opening stress
function, f, is defined for plastic crack closure as follows (Eq. (3))
[26]:

Fig. 7. Definition of different surface cracks. Kop

f=
Kmax
possible in Franc-3D software: manual and automatic propagation.
The crack propagation in manual one is optional, but it should be ⎧
noted that the crack growth is not allowed to be more than 30% of ( 2
⎪ max R , A 0 + A1R + A2 R + A3 R
=⎨
3
) R≥0
⎪
the summation of all previous crack lengths. The crack growth ⎩ A 0 + A1R −2≤R<0 (2)
path is determined using the maximum shear stress criterion and
the crack may be propagated for one step right after determining where R is the stress ratio. The coefficients corresponding to Eq.
the growth direction. The element are redefined after the first step (3) are presented as (Eq. (4)):
in crack propagation and gets ready for resolving. This procedure
repeats for every steps of crack propagation and continue to 19 A 0 =( 0. 825 − 0. 34α+0. 05α 2) cos [ ( 2π Sσ )] max
0
1
α
(3)
steps until the crack length reach to 41 mm. It is seen in Fig. 8 that
 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125 123

Smax
A1=(0. 415 − 0. 071α )
σ0 (4)

A2 =1 − A 0 −A1−A3 (5)

A3=2A 0 +A1−1 (6)

where α is a factor that specifies plane stress/strain state and

Smax/σ0 is the fraction that its numerator is maximum applied
stress and denominator is flow stress (the stress that causes plastic
flow).
Calculation of number of cycles, N(a), from initial crack length,
a0 , to final crack length, af , is presented in Eq. (7).
af da
Ntot = ∫a n
C ( ∆Keff )
0 (7)

4. Results and discussion

The stress intensity factors are calculated in two crack types and
different initial crack lengths for the contact condition between rail
and new wheel and corresponding results are shown in Figs. 9–11.
Fig. 9 implies that mode I stress intensity factor in a crack that is
placed in rail, along loading direction and has a length change from

Fig. 10. Stress intensity factor of mode II, (a) along motion direction, (b) in opposite
direction.

3 to 6 mm, increases up to 67%. Stress intensity factor of mode I also

Fig. 9. Stress intensity factor of mode I, (a) along motion direction, (b) in opposite
direction.
increase up to approximately 73% by a change in radial interference
from 6 to 10 mm. The same changes in crack length and radial
interference for a crack in the opposite direction results in a 400%
and 11% raise in mode I stress intensity factor, respectively.
According to the mentioned results, maximum amounts of stress
intensity factors belong to the crack with longer length and more
difference between SIFs for two types of cracks achieves as crack
lengths increase. So it can be concluded that crack growth rate in a
crack with same direction to loading is more than a crack in opposite
direction as crack length increases in cyclic loading condition.
Figs. 10 and 11 show the changes in maximum stress intensity factor
according to crack length.
Fig. 12 shows fatigue life estimation against crack length and for
different initial crack lengths and two crack types. Wheel and rail
friction coefficients are defined as 0.29 and crack angle to horizontal
plane is considered as 60°. According to Fig. 12, it can be inferred that
fatigue life variations in along the motion direction cracks are more
than cracks which are in opposite direction to motion.
Effect of geometry of wheel profile and the way it contact to rail
are also studied on fatigue life. Changes in fatigue life according to
geometry of wheel profile in 0.29 friction coefficient, angle of 60°
between crack and horizontal plane, 98 KN load and initial crack
length of 3 mm is shown in Fig. 13. As shown in Fig. 13a, wheel
profile geometry and wheel/rail contact condition has significant
effect on fatigue life and it is concluded that by selecting third type
 124 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125
Fig. 11. Stress intensity factor of mode III, (a) along motion direction, (b) in
opposite direction.
of worn wheel instead of new wheel, fatigue life is decreased up to
20.1%. Such change in wheel profile from new one to third worn
profile for a crack in opposite direction to motion reduces fatigue
life approximately up to 19.7% (Fig. 13b).
Fatigue life results for rail show that the slope of fatigue life dia-
gram against crack length is soft for lower crack lengths. On the other
hand, a little change in crack length results in remarkable increase in
fatigue life. So, stress intensity factor in lower length cracks is more
important than the amount of SIF in cracks with longer length.
5. Conclusions
Three dimensional finite element analysis for the estimation of
fatigue crack propagation and life prediction in UIC60 rail is pre-
sented in this study. Results were obtained based on the use of
numerical method and finite element software. Effect of different
parameters on crack growth is investigated for two type of surface
cracks on the basis of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) by
using Franc-3D finite element software. The effect of wear in
wheel on its contact condition to rail, contact stress field and
corresponding fatigue life are also determined. According to
numerical results in the present study and field observations in
railway, the following conclusions can be made:
(1) The finite element results shown that the increase in stress field
in wheel/rail contact zone is the most important factor in
Fig. 12. Fatigue life against crack length for different initial crack lengths, (a) along
motion direction, (b) opposite to motion direction.
fatigue life reduction. The amount of contact zone stress field is
more than yield strength of rail steel and this stress field results
in a plastic zone in wheel/rail contact location.
(2) Surface friction heavily influences the crack growth rate. More
friction rate of contract surface rail and wheels, more growth of
crack 1 and consequently growth of crack 2 will be reduced.
(3) The results revealed that high wear rate can lead to initial crack
elimination and prevent their growth, but low wear rate
increases the time interval in which high stress field is applied
and consequently has negative effect in elimination of initial
cracks.
(4) Results of fatigue life for contact between rail and different
wheel profiles shown that controlling wheel/rail contact geo-
metry is the best way to reduce contact stresses and to monitor
rolling contact fatigue defects.
(5) The stress intensity factor in crack tip that is placed in direction
of wheel rotation is more than SIF for a crack in opposite
direction to wheel rotation. So cracks that are along wheel
rotation direction are of more importance and results in lower
fatigue life.
(6) Fatigue life directly depends on initial crack length and higher
amount of fatigue life is achieved as the initial crack length
present as a defect. Besides that, initial cracks usually appears
due to manufacturing processes or wheel/rail contact, therefore
fatigue life can be improved by monitoring these two factors.
 R. Masoudi Nejad et al. / Tribology International 94 (2016) 118–125
Fig. 13. Fatigue life against crack length for different S1002 wheel profiles, (a) along
motion direction, (b) opposite to motion direction.
(7) The size and depth of surface pits depend on the length of initial
cracks moving toward the surface. Hence, more dangerous pits
appear due to the presence of longer initial cracks.
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